Latest break-ins at NE Bend food truck lot not the first

Police are investigating a string of break-ins at a food truck lot in northeast Bend — and it’s not the first to occur there in recent months.

The owner of The Rouge Chef, Stefan Pena, said he woke up to an alert on his phone Monday morning, telling him that his food truck had been broken into at 3:45 a.m. He called police first thing in the morning to report what happened, and shared security video of the suspect.

Pena said this is not the first time that this has happened at the On Tap food cart lot off Northeast Cushing Drive.

In fact, this is the third time in the past six months food trucks have been burglarized at On Tap.

Pena said the damage done to his food truck will cost thousands of dollars to repair. He said he’s discouraged by the frequency of the break-ins and may change the way he secures his food truck because of it.

“We know just to take everything out,” Pena said. “I almost feel like just leaving the door unlocked, you know? Because there is nothing in there. Everything else is bolted down, you know, so, maybe that’s what we’ll do from now on, so they don’t pry open the windows, because that’s how they got in. The back window, they just popped it and climbed right in.”

According to Bend police, five of the seven food trucks were broken into at the On Tap lot. Officers said it’s an active investigation, and they are working hard to track down the suspects.